DESPITE packed stadiums at the weekend and commentators proclaiming it's an exciting season, this doesn't equate to quality and the fans will soon be leaving in their droves.

DIFFICULT to know the best place to begin, what to say or which group to support.

There are so many people whispering and cajoling and trying to gain backing for their ideas and plans which they claim would make Scottish football better. Sadly, we’ve heard it all before.

A couple of years ago the phone rang and on the other end an influential club leader was inviting me to meet, on neutral territory, to discuss the “way forward”. He’d made contact with the blessing of a few other club chairmen in the hope this paper would promote his, their views on how the game could be rescued from the doldrums.

“The status quo is not an option,” was the message given when we met, and others in the SPL repeated it in the weeks after.

A bunch of them, hand picked by themselves, had strategic planning sessions in “secret locations” which, of course, we all knew about but took the view not to doorstep any of them because these were hardly meetings of minds.

It wasn’t as though in among the usual suspects there was a Sir David Attenborough, Tony Benn, Richard Dawkins or a Robert Winston, not that he’d have been allowed in anyway.

There’s room for only one bad moustache, and like a large, brooding caterpillar it lies there on Big Rod’s top lip.

It’s not my place to do so but someone ought to tell Petrie he might not look quite so much like an undertaker if he were to get rid of the snot mop. Then again he is one of the men presiding over the game’s continuing decline.

Don’t be fooled by the crowd at Tynecastle on Saturday when fans streamed towards their Gorgie shrine or at Pittodrie. Hearts fans were out in force to help save their stricken club and Aberdeen had a chance to go top of the SPL so, of course, their supporters were going to turn out.

They’ll go missing again shortly.

And don’t be fooled either by the commentators who get worked up because a match is exciting. Like schoolgirls at a One Direction gig they scream and shrill when a match is being closely fought, as though this is a new phenomenon.

Mostly they are the ones who said nothing would change when the top flight lost one of its biggest draws and now they’re trying too hard to talk up a poor product. They are in denial and are not helping.

They still fail to accept excitement does not equate to quality and can’t quite see either that TV audiences are switching off. They don’t understand there are still only two massive clubs in this country, even if they are leagues apart because of the financial misdeeds of one.

Incidentally, it is widely believed the final verdict on Rangers’ EBT case will be revealed before this week is out and the army of self-appointed experts are still predicting a damning result. We will know for certain soon enough but unfortunately the issue of league reconstruction will drag on and on with the SPL and SFL pushing their own models and the SFA sitting in the middle unable to act because of protocol.

Surely the fact red tape prevents the governing body in Scotland from intervening is proof enough changes must be made. However, it probably suits the SFA to sit and watch the two other administrations go head to head and then rubber stamp whatever comes out of the skirmish.

That way they don’t get dragged into the mess when they should be right there in the centre of the brewing storm demanding commonsense prevail for the good of the game. If they were really bold they’d actually back the SFL proposal of three divisions of 16-10-16 rather than the SPL’s attempt which merely revisits an old idea.

They want two divisions with 12 clubs in each and even though they’ll say they aren’t trying to form SPL 2 that’s exactly what they’re proposing even if there is an acknowledgement they’ll have to change the name of their little gang.

Frankly, though, this is intellect at a bungalow level. It isn’t clever, it isn’t radical and it isn’t new. Instead of thinking about the greater good of the game this is just another shoddy attempt by a handful of clubs, who see themselves as bigger than the reality suggests, to protect what they have at the moment.

But this is also about a stubborn refusal to accept there might be more intelligence within the SFL, that directors of smaller clubs can think on a grand scale. The attitude is insulting but if the SFL, who were left behind when the SPL was formed in 1998, remain united they can succeed with their proposal and bring an end to the SPL which has been shown to be shambolic and vindictive.

This is not an attack on Neil Doncaster who is at the mercy of his members, some of whom behave as though they, and only they know, what is best for the game. They are not interested in providing a structure which allows clubs they believe are a waste of space to breath and thrive – and it is time they were brought down.

They have failed the game and must be prevented from causing further damage. On the other hand the SFL, who have attracted sponsors in straitened times and who have won Government support for their initiatives, are entitled to think they can now lead the way and will by sticking together and resisting any offer to form a second tier run by another body.

It is still my belief that three divisions each housing 14 clubs offers a structure best suited to providing movement between the divisions, play-offs and drama. It would also be an environment in which young players would have the chance and time to flourish and that would help enhance the quality.

The divisions would split after each side had played all of their opponents home and away but these splits would make sure every team played the same number of home and away games. There would be no meaningless matches and the play-offs could be sold at a premium if they involved derbies.

And just imagine the crowds if the final Edinburgh derby was for a place in Europe. Of course this is assuming Hearts survive beyond this season or that Vladimir Romanov doesn’t shut down and sell Tynecastle.

He has been given until next month to settle the £475,000 tax bill but HMRC are also seeking a £1.75million payment relating to players loaned to the Tynecastle club from FBK Kaunas. Hearts are disputing this claim and their fans are rallying to the cause but it is difficult to see how the club can haul themselves out of trouble.

Apart from what they do or don’t owe the tax man their debt is about £23m and rising. Also, Romanov is believed to have put more than £30m into the club since he bought it and it has been said he’s written off much of that. But what if he hasn’t? What if that amount has still to be settled?

Hearts owe a huge bill to Romanov’s bank, which is hardly the largest in the world, and they couldn’t afford to write of such an amount. No bank could and that might mean Hearts can’t even be sold.

Hearts, then, just might be another SPL experiment which went wrong and another reason why this lot shouldn’t be allowed to reshape the game.

The SFL’s proposal isn’t perfect but it is more radical and more intelligent than anything the top flight have come up with and it addresses the needs of fans.

Also weren’t the SPL clubs fond of telling everyone they had no choice but to listen to their supporters during the close season?

Hopefully they’ll still be listening when the same fans tell them where to stick their SPL 2.